All posts in February Newsletter 2016

It goes without saying our neighborhood is important to us. We have invested a great deal to create and maintain a quality of life that is hard to find within this city, let alone central Illinois. This investment covers many different areas but is really focused on the financial investment we all make to have and maintain our homes along with the investment of time to better the neighborhood, our community and the quality of life we all experience.

As an organization, the Moss Bradley Residential Association has been committed to forwarding this movement of investment. Some of this investment is very tangible. But a good portion of this commitment is behind the scenes. I’d like to use this message to convey to you two important programs and ask for you to assist the board with both of them.

To recognize individuals who have or are making a difference in our neighborhood, the MBRA board is introducing two annual awards which will be presented at the Annual Meeting & Potluck dinner held each May. The recognitions are for Volunteer of the Year and MBRA Beautification. The criteria and nominating process can be found here. The intent behind these awards is to formally recognize those individuals who really do make a difference for all of us through their time commitment or improvement of their property.

Please take a moment to read through the criteria and send in your nomination to recognize those people who make a difference. Deadline for accepting submissions is March 31st, 2016.Award recipients will be announced at the annual meeting on May 4th.

In addition to time and talent, the Moss Bradley Residential Association also make a financial commitment to the neighborhood. We have been very fortunate over the past years to have had ever-growing success with the Moss Avenue Antique Sale & Festival. What started out as a means of assisting with the financing of the Hanging of theGreens has grown into a very strong event, which now helps us reinvest in the neighborhood.

We have invested the funds wisely so that the Association remains strong and viable for a very long time. The MBRA board realized a number of years ago that it was the wise and right thing to do to reinvest funds generated through the annual sale back into the neighborhood.

Some of those projects have included the purchase and installation of period-specific sign posts along Moss Ave and the inner streets of the MBRA area (to be completed spring 2016), investment in the Greenway project along Western Avenue and the purchase of shares in the Moss Bradley Revolving Fund.

We have also provided financial gifts to organizations such as: Look. It’s My Book – an organization that provides books to each children in kindergarten through fourth grade to strengthen learning and instill a life-long love of reading; and The Penguin Project – a program to give children with special needs an opportunity to participate in the performing arts.
These are but a few of the projects and organizations we have invested in, but provide you an insight to our commitment to the betterment of our neighborhood and our community.

From this, there are two things I ask of you: Please take a moment to nominate an individual who you feel should be recognized for the volunteer commitment to MBRA and an individual who has made improvements to their property. You can do so online at www.mossbradley.org/annual-awards. I also ask you to provide us with some suggestions of projects or an organization, for our community reinvestment. You can do so by contacting any board member or submitting them to us via email at mossbradleynews@gmail.com. Please provide each of these to us no later than March 31, 2016
Brian

Our January membership meeting focused on an issue that has and will continue to affect our entire city, economically and ecologically. Representative from the city of Peoria’s Public Works department presented a program on the feasibility of establishing a dedicated funding stream for storm water management and the proposed use of green infrastructure that would help with sewer overflow problems. Faced with mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency and the needs of its citizens, the City of Peoria formed an advisory committee to seek public input and help it manage its storm water infrastructure problems.

Among the issues the city faces is increasing regulatory requirements from the U.S. EPA. That agency has mandated that the city develop a long-term plan to reduce overflows from combined storm/sanitary sewers. That is because when storm water from rain or snow overwhelms combined sewers, untreated sewage discharges into the Illinois River. The city experiences 20 to 30 combined overflows a year, on average. These may occur at 16 outfall locations along the Illinois River. Overflows can occur with as little as 0.15 inches of rainfall. Combined sewer overflows contribute to elevated bacteria levels and pose health risks to humans.

The One-Water Committee was established to find ways to reduce storm-water runoff in Peoria. The committee includes a diverse group of stakeholders, including private property owners; large and small businesses; tax-exempt organizations; other governmental bodies, and environmental advocates. In addition to recommendations on possible ways to resolve the storm water issues, the group is also recommending a monthly residential fee range to help pay for upgrades to infrastructure that handles storm water runoff. One possible funding stream could be a storm waterutility, such as storm water utilities in Morton, Eureka, Bloomington and Decatur. TheOneWater Committee has provided input on funding models and credits, such as for property owners who put greeninfrastructure on their properties. It also may help decide green infrastructure locations.

Green infrastructure could include impervious pavers and natural plantings. The committee has also provided input on storm water management priorities, including inspecting underground pipes, repairing infrastructure, street sweeping and other issues.

There is a great deal more to learn about this issue. We are fortunate to have a brief synopsis provided to us by the city, posted in this newsletter. I suggest you read it as well as visit www.peoriagov.org/wetweather for more information. There will be more follow up on this issue but I suggest you become familiar with the topic as this it affects us all!

Best wishes for a very prosperous New Year! Work and planning continue in the early days of 2016 for the execution of numerous Public Works projects in the MBRA area.

Firstly, the second set of electronic speed board signs have been erected east of University on West Moss as will be the creation of 2 speed tables for that stretch. In addition, we will soon have a colloquium for Cottage District residents to see if they would favor traffic circles and speedtables in their area which would replicate what The University
East NA has on the six streets north of Main along Russell.

In the Spring , Sheridan Road will be done from McClure to roughly Nebraska with new bridge work occurring at Richmond and Sheridan . 2016 will see the completion of University Street in District Two as well. A conscious decision was made by the Council to continue with the aggressive rebuild of our City infrastructure. This occurred after taxpayer input colloquia and months of Council deliberation. Full throttle on the gas also occurred as it relates to the rebuilding and increased staffing of our Police force.

Adrian Aguilar is our new Second District Resident Officer, and I hope we can soon invite him to an MBRA meeting. I also have the funding for a second Second District Resident Officer who will reside in the north central part of D 2.

We are working hard to fill the important Historic Preservation Commission vacancy, necessitated by the selection of Sidney Paul Ruckriegel to be the newly appointed At- Large Councilor to fill the seat vacated by new State Senator Chuck Weaver. I am so proud to see a bit more geographic balance in where the City Councilors live. A large majority of Reps have lived, for many decades, north of War Drive.

I hope we will soon see a vigorous inquiry into the lackluster response of Ameren to a storm predicted many days in advance. Some folks in District Two had no power for four days! May I conclude by thanking Beth Jensen and now Sid Ruckriegel for covering D2 issues and providing constituent service when I am on vacation and assisting with all 5 districts. We make a great team and I guarantee you that we will not let you down. Finally, Mayor Ardis remains a solid supporter of our heritage neighborhoods and I am honored to fill the seat which his Father once occupied.

Speaking of orchids and onions…oh, yeah, we weren’t really speaking of that. But it is such a good way to clearly show the difference between good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant.

So, here is my summer onion:
My fence goes down. Hit by a car? Blown by the wind? No matter. It is down. So, I called my insurance agent and, yes, I have replacement insurance. He calls the adjustor. The adjustor looks and calls with a value (less than 1/5th of what I paid for it over fifteen years ago). Since the price of lumber and labor will have gone up over the years, I object. I go out looking for bids. It is a busy time for
carpenters who do custom work and I am late getting on their schedule but several come. Most want to put in a pre-fab fence. I want replacement. I make more calls. Finally, I have only one bid. So I call my agent again to seek some help. “Does he have a contractor I could contact…this must happen often in his line of business?” His response, after consultation with the ‘experts’ in the office, was “to try the Yellow Pages.” (As if I had been calling names and numbers off the police blotter). And then he added that “if you put in a claim, you know your premiums will go up.” Was that a threat? I give up. He wins. I don’t get a replacement fence. Really big ONION experience.

On the other hand we have to concentrate on the Orchids in our lives:
My gutters badly need a serious cleaning, and they are also showing age and wear, so I call my roofer. He comes out to the house. He doesn’t send an apprentice or an adjuster. He comes within 48 hours. He looks carefully, offers several ideas and finally, he suggests that another company could do a good job and cheaper. And they probably could get to it sooner. HE calls the company. HE gets the bid. HE sets up the appointment. And I am ready to go. MY hero! My ORCHID.

How do we live our lives? As Orchids? As Onions? I am trying really hard to forget the ‘smelly’ agent and enjoy the ‘fragrant’ roofers in my life. Life is too short for the negatives to take up so much room.

Sumner Clarke commissioned architect William Quayle to design this Bracketed Italianate styled house for his family in 1877. Sadly, Clarke’s wife died at the age of 24 in November 1877, before the house was completed. The following year, Clarke moved into the house with his two children, Robert, age 4 and Anna, age 2. In 1900, Clarke hired Chicago architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee to prepare plans for the renovation and remodeling of his home. The changes to the house included the addition of the copper clad bays and the broad limestone porch, as well as extensive interior work. The renovations cost $8,000. This was at a time when the same amount of money could have built two two-story, three bedroom houses.

Sumner Clarke died in 1907 at age 59. He is generally identified with the family business, Clarke Bros. & CO. (the largest distillery in the world), makers of Clarke’s Pure Rye. He was involved in many different businesses throughout his career, including:

Partner in the Manhattan Distillery here in Peoria

Owned over 15,000 acres of agricultural land in Illinois and Arkansas

President and principle investor in the School House Construction Company with offices in Peoria and New York

Peoria is currently facing many wet weather-related issues that impact the safety, beauty, and sustainability of our community. Scott Reeise and Andrea Klopfenstein from the Department of Public Works connected with the Moss Bradley Neighborhood to discuss stormwater issues, combined sewer overflow (CSO) issues, and the feasibility of a stormwater utility to resolve these problems. A stormwater utility would operate just like other public services, such as wastewater and electricity, and would be priced on usage. Many other Illinois cities, including Morton and Eureka, are implementing stormwater utilities in order to manage the impact of wet weather in a responsible and equitable way.

To learn more about wet weather management, please visit OneWaterPeoria.com or contact Public Works at 309-494-8800.